Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
- 4.8K All Categories
- 4.3K Life in Lusternia
- 453 Announce Posts
- 75 Event Posts
- 1.7K Common Grounds
- 589 Q&A
- 83 Combat Overhaul
- 1.5K World Library
- 86 Combat Logs
- 870 Event Scrolls
- 403 Mechanic's Corner
- 329 Ideas
- 314 Last Chance Trading Post
- 478 Life Outside of Lusternia
- 9 Forum News
- 275 The Real World
- 94 Meet and Greet
- 37 The Funnies
- 63 Mafia Hideout
Announce Post #2960: A Roadmap for Lusternia
Hello,
A few days ago, we mentioned we would be posting a roadmap in the coming days. We are ready to post that.
Roadmap
-------
Finalise Melder Rework:
We do not want to leave this project half-finished. There are obviously some tweaks that still need to be made. We have gathered a group of people who commonly use (and in some cases, fight against) the class in order to gather feedback and make adjustments as needed.
Reporting System:
It was clear that the previous changes made to the report system didn't quite work. Based on player feedback, we are changing the report system to require less politicking to get your reports through. This item on the roadmap also includes a full cycle of reports.
SSC/AC Improvements:
It's clear from the last townhall that there is still a long way to go with autocuring, specifically with aeon and writhe afflictions. Looking at writhe afflictions, they still seem to be coded in a pre-overhaul format, which causes the pain point with them. This includes modernising the afflictions, improving the aeon queue, and other tweaks as needed. Unifying afflictions will also enable better symptom tracking and GMCP messages.
Endgame:
Endgame has been a common complaint from players for years, there being little to do with it, the essence cap, roleplay powers costing the same weight as combat powers. We've had various proposals sitting on the administrative wiki to take a look at this for a while, and it's always been pushed back. It is our intention to fully address the problem and come to a solution that can develop this vital part of the game.
Ascension:
We aren't going to delve too deep into this here, but this mostly just covers the planning around ascension and the story/lore regarding it.
These are our general plans. We are open to more suggestions, discussion about our current plans, et cetera. We are always reachable via message or email for any discourse, or on the forums.
Best regards,
The Lusternia Team.
A few days ago, we mentioned we would be posting a roadmap in the coming days. We are ready to post that.
Roadmap
-------
Finalise Melder Rework:
We do not want to leave this project half-finished. There are obviously some tweaks that still need to be made. We have gathered a group of people who commonly use (and in some cases, fight against) the class in order to gather feedback and make adjustments as needed.
Reporting System:
It was clear that the previous changes made to the report system didn't quite work. Based on player feedback, we are changing the report system to require less politicking to get your reports through. This item on the roadmap also includes a full cycle of reports.
SSC/AC Improvements:
It's clear from the last townhall that there is still a long way to go with autocuring, specifically with aeon and writhe afflictions. Looking at writhe afflictions, they still seem to be coded in a pre-overhaul format, which causes the pain point with them. This includes modernising the afflictions, improving the aeon queue, and other tweaks as needed. Unifying afflictions will also enable better symptom tracking and GMCP messages.
Endgame:
Endgame has been a common complaint from players for years, there being little to do with it, the essence cap, roleplay powers costing the same weight as combat powers. We've had various proposals sitting on the administrative wiki to take a look at this for a while, and it's always been pushed back. It is our intention to fully address the problem and come to a solution that can develop this vital part of the game.
Ascension:
We aren't going to delve too deep into this here, but this mostly just covers the planning around ascension and the story/lore regarding it.
These are our general plans. We are open to more suggestions, discussion about our current plans, et cetera. We are always reachable via message or email for any discourse, or on the forums.
Best regards,
The Lusternia Team.
3
(c) Iron Realms Entertainment 2012.
Comments
Reviewing artifacts is actually something on my todo list, but it is likely to be more of a gradual process and something done piecemeal than something roadmapped. Likely keep an eye on changelogs for all of that. If you have suggestions or any specific concerns regarding particular artifacts, please do message or email me and I'll add it to our wiki and my todo list. If you would prefer a hard, focused look though to get through it all at once, we can do that, but it would likely push it to our extended roadmap.
While I understand that these are just the short-term items, with many things like the economy and trades on the extended road-map and not able to be shared yet... one thing that stands out to me is that there seems to be a lot of emphasis here on the established player base only. That’s not a bad thing of course, but is that a deliberate strategy?
Would it be fair to say that the intent right now is to focus on consolidating and improving things for the already-committed players of Lusternia, as opposed to putting resources into aspects that might draw in new or disengaged past players?
I guess I say that because once all of these things are fully implemented, I think I’d have a hard time advertising any of them as a reason to come (back) and check out the game - unless you were already heavily invested and at max level.
Perhaps that is actually a really good indication, because it hints that the population, activity and newbie retention levels of the game might already have reached super healthy levels - but I just thought I’d ask anyway!
As Xenthos said, Autocuring is one of the biggest things that allows new players to enter combat, and even bash/influence without having to script or work with their client (very often, Nexus is the first client new players use - we don't want to have to tell players "we're sorry, you have to use Mudlet to do basic things.")
Fixing classes, the economy, all of which are on our short-term and long-term roadmaps are things which will keep players old and new invested. Endgame is something everybody will reach, and frankly, with the habit players have of bashing everybody they see up to demigod in the first five minutes they meet them, it seems a good priority for us.
To summarise, there's no point in drawing in new players if we're just going to drive them off, so we should fix the things that are doing that.
Edit: And just to be clear, I am extremely appreciative of some of the non-PvP changes that have already been implemented - turning off affinity was awesome, the new divine flavourtext stuff looks brilliant, recent family changes sound great and I guess there’s a small chance that revisiting end-game activities could potentially cater to some non-PK player styles as well (I don’t really know what endgame is outside of the various pvp competitive systems).
So I will continue to look forward to every changelog, hoping that trend continues!
Or is this more a general statement about trying to fix commonly assumed pain points?
The games economy is really something that all players also participate in though and working on that could in turn provide more mechanisms to make endgame more rewarding (because endgame is also part of the game economy).
Like, if some of the things Elryn has been suggesting around bashing improvements and loot drops were put in they could improve the experience for players already at the endgame as well as those still working towards it.
A giant panda bounds into view, flanked by a gargantuan gorilla clad in golden plate armour. They both salute as the vision fades.